Metolius River, Deschutes, Jefferson

Three of the western tributaries of the Deschutes have their sources in giant springs—Metolius, Spring, and Fall rivers—and of these three, the Metolius is the largest and longest. It flows from the north base of Black Butte, full-bodied and icy cold, and, after winding northward through beautiful pine forests, swings around the north end of Green Ridge through a canyon of great depth and majestic grandeur, joining the Deschutes just north of the mouth of Crooked River. The gorge of the Metolius is more than 1,500 feet deep in places, with sides sufficiently precipitous to make a descent a real problem. The source of the water from Metolius Springs was a matter of conjecture for many years. In the spring of 1972, N.V. Peterson and E.A. Groh published “Geology and Origin of the Metolius Springs” in the Ore Bin, V. 34, no. 3, pp.41-551. Their investigation shows that the water comes from the east side of the Cascade Range southwest of Black Butte. Dry Creek and Cache Creek lose most of their water to underground seepage west of Black Butte, and other streams to the south drain into Black Butte Swamp. These waters follow the prehistoric course of Metolius River under the geologically more recent Black Butte to emerge at the springs at a relatively constant rate of 50,000 gallons per minute. As far as the writer knows, the first mention of Metolius is in the Pacific Railroad Surveys Reports, v. 6, where the name is given Mpto-ly-as. The army officers who compiled these reports visited the valley of the Deschutes in the later part of 1855 and apparently heard the name from Indians at that time. Other early forms were Metoluis and Matoles, but modern use has standardized on Metolius. Around Bend, there is a story to the effect that metolius is a Warm Springs word meaning spawning salmon, but Warm Springs Indians informed the writer that metolius means white fish, indicating by that expression that they meant a light-colored salmon rather than a whitefish. The two translations may both be correct. There was a post office in Jefferson County named Metolius for the community and the Oregon Trunk Railway station. Capt. John Charles Frémont forded what we now call the Metolius River on December 1, 1843, but gave it no name. His Indian guides told him it was a salmon-water.

Lewis A. McArthur and Lewis L. McArthur, Oregon Book of Geographic Names (Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 2003) 638-639